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Wharton, George Morgan and James Rumsey, for the benefit of his majesty's service in this country, as follows, viz :

One grant, 12th April, 1769, to Joseph Galloway.

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And whereas, lieut. colonel John Wilkins, the better to promote the said service, has agreed to be interested one-sixth part therein; we do hereby engage, that each of the beforementioned persons, shall assign over to the whole and to colonel Wilkins, five-sixth parts thereof, to have and to hold the same, each person one-sixth part thereof, agreeable to the tenor of the said grants, as joint

tenants.

In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands and seals, at Fort Chartres, this 25th day of June, 1769.

GEO. MORGAN, (SEAL.)

J. RUMSEY, (SEAL.)

For forms sake, I have registered the above; but the grants >therein alluded to, are null and void, until confirmed by the general's approbation, as they were given on these conditions only, and can be of no effect until such approbation arrives, and was grant ed for the good purposes then represented to me.

JO. WILKINS, Lt. Col.

Commanding for his majesty in the Illinois country.

Governor St. Clair's Confirmation.

!

Territory of the United States, Į

north-west of Ohio, &c. S

Arthur St. Clair, governor of the territory of the United States, north-west of the Ohio, to all persons who shall see these presents, greeting:

Be it known, that in pursuance of the acts of Congress, of the 20th June, the 28th of August, in the year of our Lord, 1788, and the instructions to the governor of the said territory, of the 29th of August, in the same year, to inquire into the titles and posses. sions of the French and Canadian inhabitants, and other settlers in the Illinois country, and at Vincennes, on the Wabash; the claims which have been presented, have been duly examined; and John Edgar, esquire, of the county of Randolph, and John Murry St. Clair, of Westmoreland county, in Pennsylvania, gentleman, lay

claim to two certain tracts or parcels of land, now lying and being in the county of Randolph, and bounded in the manner following, to wit: beginning at a Walnut tree on Kaskaskia creek, and running from thence, south 30 degrees west, two thousand nine hundred and sixty perches, to a stone; thence, south 60 degrees east, eight hundred and eighty-eight perches, to a stone; thence, north 30 degrees east, two thousand and eighty perches, to a Hickory, on the bank of the Kaskaskia; thence, north-west and with the different meanders of the creek, to the place of beginning; having the ledge of rocks on the south east, the Kaskaskia creek on the northwest, and joining Nicholas Jarrot on the south-west, and containing thirteen thousand nine hundred and eighty-six acres, to which for any thing that appears to the contrary, they are rightfully entitled, having been granted by lieut. colonel Wilkins, commandant for the British, in the Illinois country, to Baynton, Wharton and Morgan, and transferred by George Morgan, agent for Baynton, Wharton and Morgan, on the 6th day of March, 1774, to Richard Winston, and sold at public sale, as the property of him the said Rd, Winston, by order of the court of Kaskaskia, to satisfy a judg ment against him, in the said court, and purchased by the said John Edgar, and transferred to him as the highest bidder, by the proper officer; and afterwards, to wit: on the eleventh day of June, in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and ninety, one equal and undivided half of the same, was sold by the said John Edgar to John Murry St. Clair aforesaid, and conveyed to him, his heirs and assigns, by deed of bargain and sale; now to the end, that the said John Edgar and John Murry St. Clair, may be forever quieted in the possession of the same, I do, by virtue of the acts and instructions of Congress before mentioned, confirm unto the said John Edgar and John Murry St. Clair, their heirs and assigns, as tenants in common, the above described tract or parcel of land, containing thirteen thousand nine hundred and eighty-six acres, together with all and singular the appurtenances whatsoever; the said described tract of land, with the appurtenances to them the said John Edgar and John Murry St. Clair, and to their heirs and assigns, as tenants in common forever, saving however to all and every person or persons, their rights to the same or any part thereof, founded in law or equity, prior to those on which the claim of the said Edgar and St. Clair are founded.

In testimony whereof, I have caused the seal of the territory to be hereunto affixed, at Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton, on the twelfth day of August, one thousand eight hundred, and in the twenty-fifth year of the independence of the United States. A. ST. CLAIR.

(Signed)

[Compare the preceding documents with the proclamation of 1763, which forbade grants of land. Observe also, that declaration of col. Wilkms, by which he acknowledges that the grants were null, unless confirmed by the General, a confir

mation which never took place. Governor St. Clair's confirmation is a nullity, as it bears date 12th August, 1800, and his powers over that part of the country, had ceased on the 4th July preceding, by the establishment of the Indiana territory. The tract is said to contain, byfactual survey, about 30,000 acres, instead of 13,986. There are several other confirmations for pretended grants by the British commandant.]

No. 13.

Evidence respecting the Yazoo Claims, (so called) published by the Legislature of the state of Georgia.

GEORGIA.

By his honor, David Emanuel, President of the Senate, and commander in chief of the army and navy of this state, and of the militia thereof.

To all to whom these presents shall come, greeting.

KNOW ye, that George R. Clayton, esquire, who certifies the annexed extract from the journals of the House of Representatives of this state, is duly authorised to act for Hines Holt, esq. clerk thereof.

Therefore all due faith, credit and authority, are, and ought to be had and given to his attestation and certificate as such.

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the great seal of this state to be put and affixed at the state house, in Louisville, this twenty-fifth day of August, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and one, and in the twenty-sixth year of the independence of the United States of America. By the President and commander in chief,

GEORGIA.

HOR. MARBURY,

Secretary of State.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Monday, the 25th January, 1796.

MR. JAMES JACKSON, from the committee to whom the constitutionality and validity of the act for the disposal of the western lands, together with the petitions and remonstrances of the people, were referred, brought in a report, which being delivered in at the clerk's table, was read, and agreed to by the house, and is as follows:

The committee to whom the constitutionality and validity of the act for the disposal of the western lands, together with the petitions and remonstrances of the people, were referred, report five other affidavits on the corruptions practised to obtain the act, and submit the propriety of entering the proofs already laid before the House, and those which may be laid before them, on the journals of the House, in order to perpetuate such testimony, and for that purpose recommend the following resolution :

Resolved, That all such proofs relating to the fraud and corruptions practised to obtain the act for the disposal of the western territory of this state, be entered by the clerk on the journals of the House, in order that the testimony so given may be perpetuated, as well for the satisfaction of the legislature, and to shew the grounds on which they proceeded, as to hand down to future legislatures the base means by which the rights of the people were attempted to be bartered.

Agreeably to the foregoing report and resolve, the faffidavits taken before the committee and exhibited to the House, being read, are as follows:

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RUSSEL JONES, senator from the county of Franklin, being duly sworn, maketh oath, that some time in the last summer, Thomas Raburn, esquire, a representative from the said county, in the last legislature, was at his house, when James Cail and several others were also present, and talking together on the subject of the sale of the western territory of this state, the said Cail told Raburn that he did not blame him for selling the land, but for selling his vote so much lower than what other members did; that he, Raburn, had sold his vote for 600 dollars, and that others had got a thousand. Raburn replied, that it showed that he was easily satisfied, and was not greedy. RUSSEL JONES.

(Signed)

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BEFORE Thomas Lewis, esquire, one of the justices of the peace for the county aforesaid, personally appeared Clement Lanier, esquire, one of the representatives of the legislature of this state, who being sworn on the holy evangelists of Almighty God, deposeth and saith, that during the last session of the legislature

at Augusta, in the winter of the year 1794, he being a member of the House of Representatives, and sitting on the same seat with Henry Gindrat, another of the members of that House, before the speaker took the chair, the said Gindrat recommended to him to be in favor of selling the western lands, for that he, the said Gindrat understood it worth our notice, for Mr. Thomas Wylly, a senator from Effingham county, had told said Gindrat that he the said Wylly could have eight or ten likely negroes for his part-and the deponent further saith, that on the same day, in the afternoon, the said Thomas Wylly came into the lobby of the house, and beckoned to the deponent, who followed him out, when a conversation commenced about the Yazoo act: that at this time a Mr. Denison came by and asked what we were upon; the said Wylly answered the land business-the said Denison then came up and Wylly withdrew; the said Denison then told the deponent that he did not pretend to advise any member to be in favor of selling the land, but those who were in favor of it were handsomely provided for, and that if the deponent thought proper to be in favor of selling, that he should have part, and that the said Denison said he was a purchaser of such of the members' parts, as had a mind to sell, but understood that some of the members pretended to ask eight or ten negroes for a share, or their share; he said he could not give so much, but the deponent might depend he would purchase; the deponent further saith, that previous to any of the before recited circumstances, Mr. William Longstreet, one of the members of said legislature, frequently called on the deponent and asked him why he was not in favor of selling the western lands, who answered he did not think it right to sell to companies of speculators; the deponent at this time wishing to make further discovery of the conduct of the members on that sale, and therefore affected to be inclined to come into the measure, and by that means kept up a conversation about it occasionally: that on the day the bill received its first reading, before the House was convened, the said Longstreet spoke to the deponent, to get his approbation to the sale; the deponent asked him to show him what security the members had of the purchasers, when the said Longstreet presented a certificate entitling the bearer to two shares of twenty-five thousand acres each, signed by Nathaniel Pendleton, chairman; he the deponent then told the said Longstreet, that that was not what he had formerly told him was a member's share, for that the said Longstreet had before said a member's share was seventy-five thou sand aères; that the said Longstreet then told the deponent if he would wait a few minutes or an hour, he would bring him another certificate from Gunn's company for the same number of acres ; that the deponent in order to disengage himself from the conversation, then said the security was not sufficient to entitle him to the land. That the said Longstreet then told the deponent, if he

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